


Out of the Woods

by alessandralee



Category: Stitchers (TV)
Genre: F/M, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-02
Updated: 2015-07-02
Packaged: 2018-04-07 09:14:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4257771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alessandralee/pseuds/alessandralee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A mysterious text message, a long hike through the woods, a cabin with only one bed. Cameron's not thrilled about any of this, but he's not letting her go alone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Out of the Woods

Cameron sighs deeply as he slams the door behind him. He’s never been the outdoorsy type, and throwing government secrets and anonymous tip offs into the mix isn’t exactly helping his enthusiasm.

“I still think this is a terrible idea,” he huffs as he drops his car keys into the front pocket of his backpack, and slides it over his shoulder.

“Your objections have been noted,” Kirsten replies, “repeatedly.” Turning her back to him, she starts off down one of the trails leading away from the parking lot. “I said you didn’t have to come.”

“And I said it’s my job to keep you safe,” he replies. In order to keep up with her pace, he has to skip out on double-checking the contents of his bag. Good thing he already checked it once before he picked Kirsten up.

“In the stitch,” she adds. “It’s your job to keep me safe in the stitch. I’m not in the stitch, this doesn’t even have anything to do with a case, ergo I’m not your responsibility.”

Cameron rolls his eyes. Yes, this little excursion of theirs isn’t technically stitchers business, but it’s close enough and dangerous enough that he’d insisted on coming with her.

Besides, he had no interest in being there when Maggie found out Kirsten had just gone of the grid for a few days. Better to ask forgiveness than permission.

Or so he was telling himself.

“No, it’s just a sketchy text message with the coordinates for a spot in the middle of a forest on the side of the mountain and the promise of answers,” he retorts. “There’s no way that could end poorly.

He’d seen enough to horror movies to know better.

“Fine,” Kirsten throws her arms in the air, but continues walking, “but walk faster.” She checks her watch and pauses a moment to do the calculations in her head. “I’d like to do as little of this hike in the dark as possible.”

“What?” Cameron yells. She hadn’t mentioned anything about the dark before. He did not pack for an overnight trip. Hell, he’s not sure he had enough water in his backpack to last until sundown.

Finally, Kirsten stops and turns around to face him.

“Relax. I found satellite images, there coordinates are for some kind of cabin,” she explains.

For a moment, that calms Cameron down. Then he thinks about all the terrible things that could be lurking in a cabin in the woods. And even if that is safe, who knows what state it’s in?

Unfortunately for him, Kirsten’s already decided to keep going. He has no choice but to follow.

\---

Contrary to his worst fears, the cabin seems to be in decent condition, as far as Cameron can tell in the dark.

He’s even managed to calm the part of his brain that keeps replaying horror films.

They hiked for hours to get here, and despite the fact that Kirsten indulged him with plenty of water and food breaks, Cameron is exhausted. All he wants is to eat the sandwiches Kirsten packed and fall asleep on the closest available soft surface.

Still, Kirsten manages to talk him into hunting down the fuse box. They don’t have much luck with the electricity, so all plans for serious exploring get put off until the morning.

“At least we can get the lay of the land tonight,” Kirsten waves her flashlight in one hand.

“Fine,” he agrees reluctantly. He’s pretty sure there aren’t any axe murderers hiding in the house, but it’s still a good idea to what else there is. “But we’re not splitting up.”

They still have no idea who sent Kirsten these coordinates, or why. Now is not the time to get lax with their security.

The tiny kitchen is empty, save for some dead bugs, a large pot, and a bottle of soap. There isn’t much dust, though; someone must have been here not too long ago.

There isn’t even any furniture in the living room, aside from a wooden table with an ancient computer sitting on it. Neither Cameron not Kirsten has the slightest clue as to how to turn it on, given their electricity issues, but they decide to worry about that more when it’s light out.

After they’ve checked to see if the water in the bathroom words (it doesn’t), Cameron checks his phone for any missed calls.

They’ve been out of service range for hours so, unsurprisingly, there’s nothing.

“We should have at least told Linus,” Cameron laments. “That way they’d know we haven’t been kidnapped by any more former NSA operatives.”

He’s still shaken up by his final encounter with Marta, but joking about it helps it seem less frightening.

“I left Camille a note,” Kirsten admits.

Cameron spins to shine his own flashlight on her. She winces.

“You did?” he asks.

“You kept saying we’d be safer if someone knew,” Kirsten tells him. “And you seemed really worried about it, so I left her a note saying we went out of town to check out a lead on something. And if we don’t make it back home by seven o’clock Sunday evening, I programmed my computer to send her these coordinates.”

Cameron’s relieved to hear that they might not be as off the grid as he’d believed. He’s also surprised to hear that Kirsten’s taken his concerns to heart.

Really surprised. Maybe even a little bit flattered.

The last room they check out is the bedroom. It’s got one full-sized bed, two pillows, an empty nightstand and a trunk at the foot of the bed with some blankets in it.

“I’ll take the floor,” Cameron offers immediately.

Sure, they’ve shared his bed before. But this feels different. There’s not worry that Kirsten will stop breathing in the middle of the night this time.

“Why?” Kirsten asks, pulling a blanket out of the trunk.

“Because there’s only one bed,” he responds.

“So? It’s big enough for both of us. You’ll be cold on the floor,” Kirsten starts laying the blankets across the mattress. There are no sheets, so they’ll have to make due without. “Unless you think I’d try something.”

“No,” Cameron insists, glad she can’t see him blushing in the dark.

He’d never think that about her. There’s no way she sees him that way. He’s definitely come to that conclusion.

“Or you think you might try something with me?” she suggests, although she doesn’t really sound like she believes it possible. Still, Cameron feels uncomfortable that she’d even think it.

“I would never,” he gasps. “We’ll share the bed.” Then he changes the subject. “I believe you mentioned something about sandwiches?”

\---

When Kirsten pulls the blankets over her body, Cameron’s left in the cold. He tries pull them back, but it just results in a five minute tug of war between two people who just want to make it through the night without freezing.

Eventually, they figure out that the blankets are just too small to cover two people lying as far from each other as possible. The only way they’ll both fit is to sleep as close together as possible.

And so side-by-side, in the middle of the bed, they both find a way to get comfortable.

It’s actually… not that bad. In fact, having Kirsten’s left side pushed up against his right keeps Cameron comfortably warm.

He tries not to dwell on how just how comfortable it is.

She doesn’t snore, but once she falls asleep, the rhythm of Kirsten’s deep breathing is pleasant and soothing. Despite his worries about whoever brought them out here in the first place, Cameron manages to doze off pretty quickly.

Only to woken up by a hard kick to his legs.

After a moment of initial confusion, Cameron thinks he’s being attacked. Then a second kick comes and he realizes it’s Kirsten.

It turns out Kirsten isn’t exactly the calmest sleeper. After a few minutes her legs wear themselves out, but then she starts tossing and turning, throwing her half of the blankets off her body and onto Cameron.

It almost makes him wish she did snore. She didn’t do this the night after her first stitch. Then again, she was totally drained.

When she doesn’t show signs of stopping after a few minutes, Cameron decides he has to do something or he’ll be the one sacrificing a good night’s rest.

Awkwardly, he turns on his side to face Kirsten. Then he wraps his left arm over her and pulls her in.

Her flailing stops. He’s worried she might have woken up, but her deep breathing suggests otherwise.

With her back pressed to his chest, Cameron makes himself comfortable. It’s not hard to do, although it is hard to deny that the pleasant warm he’s feeling might not just be from shared body heat.

He shakes the thought from his head and focuses on redistributing the blankets so she doesn’t wake up shivering.

And then he falls asleep, thoughts of how nice it would feel to do this on a regular basis swimming through his head.

The next morning, Kirsten is the first one to wake up. She’s out of bed and exploring before he’s even conscious, so he’s not sure if they spent the entire night curled together.

She certainly never mentions it.


End file.
